play against type

present singular third person plays against type · participle present playing against type · participle past played against type · past played against type

1. To behave in a manner that is completely different from what is expected based on one's role.

   There are several ways that successful salespeople play against type.

   2003, Jeff Thull, Mastering the Complex Sale, page 89

   1 more example

   There’s always the chance that these rough edges are down to first night nerves – this is a show reliant on a lot of technology, which can obviously go wrong – or the fact that, as Bono points out, it’s the first U2 gig in 45 years that doesn’t have Larry Mullen playing the drums. Or, indeed, the fact that U2 are, in effect, playing against type. By their stadium-packing standards, an audience of 18,000 counts as intimate; it doesn’t involve their special skill of projecting their music to row ZZ in a vast outdoor venue.

   2023 September 30, Alexis Petridis, “U2 review – an utterly astonishing, admirably raw Vegas extravaganza”, in The Guardian, London